


Fate and time most sour product

by TFALokiwriter



Series: Messing with time while Lost in Space (1998) [1]
Category: Lost in Space (1998)
Genre: A platonic bond that traverses time and space, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family of Choice, Father-Son Relationship, Found Family, Gen, Guilt, Older Characters, Resentment, Second Chances, The Power of Love and Friendship, Trauma, Will Robinson the determinator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22587667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: Fate comes for everyone that lead their lives toward it, it may swallow them whole, make them unrecognizable versions while also being kind in how they came to be. Then, there is the cruel kind of fate where it is extremely unkind to those who dare venture through and change their fate.
Relationships: Older Will Robinson & Don West, Older Will Robinson & Zachary Smith
Series: Messing with time while Lost in Space (1998) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937989





	1. New guest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this as a treat for myself and somehow it became long.

After years of working on the machine, today was the day. Will looked toward his old but heavily mutated friend in a dark hood across from Robot. Robot had nothing to say over the matter. He had silently accepted that he would be left behind as had Smith. They had accepted their fates to be amended with the young man’s actions. 

Will looked back at the last several decades then smiled at how far they had came and became a unexpected family since the loss of his family. He lowered his gaze down toward where the portal was set to appear then smiled feeling stricken by emotion. The thought of being responsible for saving his family brought sheer joy to him. Will pressed the button then watched in anticipation for the portal to appear. 

Nothing happened. 

They stood there in silence. 

Staring at a very empty portal container. 

The silence was quite awkward for the trio. 

“My dear son. . .” Spider started, slowly. 

“Yes, old monster?” Will asked. 

“Why is the portal not appearing?” Spider said. 

Will had nothing to say, or, at least, didn’t know the answer to that question. 

“Warning! Warning!” Robot waved his long arm in the air twirling from side to side. “We have a intruder beneath the ship!”

“I will get ‘em.” 

Spider traveled down the trash shoot then returned and dropped a figure to the floor. The figure landed on their chest on the floor with a thud then a groan that followed. Spider looked down upon the figure tilting his head from side to side then observed the handle of a dagger sticking out of the new arrival’s back.

“We can try again, Doctor Smith.” Will said. “Tomorrow.”

“We seem to have attracted a guest from the talons of time, my dear son.” Spider replied. “Hmm. . .”

“More so yanked him out by accident.” Will said. 

“Negative, Will.” Robot replied. “The machine had not operated when he arrived. He appeared.”

Spider took out the blade from the figure then the body relaxed with a groan. Spider dropped the dagger aside. 

“He has a very nasty back injury,” he slid the garments up carefully revealing a long slit with his long silver claw. He looked at it in curiosity. “Wound is still fresh. Fortunately, it wasn’t close to the spinal cord.”

“Or rescued someone trying to travel through it when we shouldn’t have.” Will said. 

“I can already imagine the tirade of complaints.” Spider scowled lifting himself up to his feet using the railing alongside him. “Robot.” he began to walk away from the duo. “kill him.”

“No.” Will said. 

Spider turned toward the younger man.

“Why?” Spider asked. 

“We don’t kill wounded.” Will replied, simply. 

“You want to tend his wounds now?” Spider grimaced. 

“No.” Will replied. “Robot can tend to his injuries.”

“Then why let him live in this ship?” Spider asked. 

“I like answers.” Will said. “He fell through Time, Doctor Smith. And survived.”

“And?” Spider asked, raising a eyebrow. 

“He is a guest.” Will said, this time with a stare that followed and the spider accepted the answer. “We don’t kill guests at first sight, Doctor Smith. That is not our way.”

“Most of our guests have tried to kill us.” Spider complained.

“Not even if we let them in by accident by struggling to open a portal in time.” Will argued. 

Spider turned toward him then smiled. The spider that once was human had a voice that hadn’t changed much since all those decades ago; retaining their youth, richness, deepness. All the ways that Time had refused to allow him to age physically as his biology had been changed by his infection. The smile faded then shook his head. 

“Now we have _another_ mouth to feed; guest or not.” Spider whined. 

“Robot, put him in the lab.” Will ordered. “And tend to his wounds.”

“Affirmative.” Robot picked up the figure then dropped him on to his back. 

“I am going to have a nap.” Spider yawned. “This has been very exciting. Too exciting.”

“I don’t know what went wrong.” Will shook his head. “It shouldn’t have done that. It should have. . .”

“Robot, report on the tectonic plates.” requested the companion.  
  
“Report indicates nothing has changed, Doctor Smith.” Robot said. 

“Nothing has changed. As if we didn’t use it at all.” Will frowned. “How did we use it if we haven’t used it at all?”

The spider patted on the younger man’s back. 

“That is a very puzzling question, my dear son. I am sure that we will get our answers from our elderly guest.” Spider assured. “However way this machine did it; you did it. And it was truly a wonderful but odd power.”

Will chuckled. 

“Have a good nap, old monster.” Will said. 

Spider smiled as the younger man looked up toward him then he walked on and Will sighed as he were left alone in the bridge. 

“Time to do diagnostics,” Will said then hung his head. “ _Again_.”


	2. Meet the new guest

“The guest is awake and his wound has been dressed. He is better than how he was last night.” Robot reported. “He was beginning to get up from the sleeping bag when I left him.”

“Thanks, Robot.” Will said. “Man the console.”

“Affirmative.”

Will walked down and arrived to the enlarged lab. It used to be one room but over time after removing walls and using them for other related purposes when it came to survival, it expanded before his eyes over countless years. The only one who had a bedroom in the last decades was the old monster. He had done hours worth of checking and he was itching for a answer. The figure got up to their feet then rubbed their forehead with a groan then started to turn away.

Will grabbed the man by the shirt then smacked him against the wall with his arm against the man’s throat.

“Why did you hijack my time machine?”

He was met by bright blue eyes and a familiar face that was aged with grayed hair even a grayed goatee. 

“I had no choice on the matter, dear sir.” The older man gasped for breath then in the next difficult breath drawn, his features changed from fear to a irritated glare. “And I would appreciate if you stopped _trying_ to choke me to death with no reason other than crashing here.”

Will stepped back then watched as the older man fell to the ground landing to his knees and his hands on the floor.

“Who are you?” Will asked over the man’s coughing. 

“Doctor —“ he coughed into his fist “--- _Zachary_ —“ he coughed using a support beam to lift himself up. “---Smith.”

He coughed then got himself upright using the wall beside him and cleared his throat. 

“Doctor Smith?”

He looked toward the younger man then raised a graying brow. 

Will froze as his mind clicked in recognition. The older man’s voice was different; it had lost its boom, it’s youth, it had became defined by age. It was gravel to Will’s ears. He appeared thirty years older than how he had been when he had last seen him as a human. Before the alien mutation changed him from head to toe including from inside and outside.

“Who might you be, young man?” Smith asked. 

“Will Robinson.” Will said. 

“Pardon?” His brows furrowed together. “Pardon me?”

“My name is William Robinson.” Will said. “Everyone calls me Will.”

“No, you’re not.” His voice grew edged. “You look nothing like him.”

“You have your goatee back.” Will said. “You look nothing how you were when I was a kid.”

“Indeed! And you have a terrible beard. You give beards a bad name.” he came closer with a glare that was more familiar than the one from the spider. Then he walked around Will handing out a range of insults, “And I hate what your hair says about you. You look like a man ravaged by the wild! Are you a barbarian?’

“No. I’m not,” Will stared in shock. “You . . . yo. . . you. . . you look human. You are human!”

“Course I am!” Smith turned away then rolled a eye. “What else would I be, dear sir? A beast?”

It was a moment before Will replied staring at Smith. 

“A human spider mutant.” Will replied. 

“Oh.” he lowered his head. “Everything is different, now.”

“What did you do?”

Smith raised his head up before replying, grimly. 

“I spared the lives of the Robinsons on a quick trip to the operational Jupiter 2. Right back to the beginning. Right back to before Robot went on his rampage.”

“Why?”

“We were supposed to send the guest back to where they came and they revealed their intentions to us on what they were going to do! We had to change our plans! We had to!” He paused then lowered his head with a sigh. “I anticipated that of happening so I came prepared. Nothing goes the way they expect it when it comes to space.”

“Your guest?”

“Our guest had some hand in making the time machine. “ He grimaced. “And we were the volunteer workers.”

“Ok.”

“She stabbed me in the back after holding me hostage.”

“Of course.”

“And they changed the destination quickly. I fell to the floor. The major and the professor fought her. The family got inside and prepared to be transported in the time elevator.”

“And they left you there?”

“They believed I was dead. Our guardian was shot down.”

“What happened to him?”

“Sabotage by her.”

“Continue, please.”

“I used my communicator with Global Sedition to stop her from changing the course of time and the major saw. My little gift to her worked like a charm. He knew what I did. He recognized the wound. We didn’t say a word between that moment. We had a silent conversation. A small one. And the only I asked was ‘Spare me’.”

He cleared his throat. 

“The transport started then the sonic boom sent us flying forward. She tried again to change the course so I tackled her into a newly formed time hole. She was absorbed, no–“ he shook his hands. “eaten alive, torn apart, and turned into little bits of energy just as I was. Her presence changed everything in my life.” 

Smith was quiet for few minutes.

“While time was consuming me, I watched as everything around me became infected by her species then I watched myself die in millions of ways. Killing the women by my hand, my manipulation, my creatures--and being killed by the professor. But . . . in all of them, the Robinsons made it Alpha Prime safe and sound and began constructing the hyper gate.”

Will listened intently to what the older man had to say.

“Before everything changed, I saw my Robinsons extend the resting Robinsons slumber and do all the hard work for them. So, when they woke up, everyone was already there, and my Robinsons were elderly. And they forced my counterpart to go with them to the promised planet instead of going back. Little scenes told me how that went. Difficult and painful journey but one that had a happy ending.”

Smith smiled at the memory, fondly, tearfully, then sighed. 

“Then next, I know---”

Smith shrugged.

“I am here.” Smith finished

“You mean the trash shoot.”

“How do you know it’s the trash shoot?” Smith’s eyes widened. 

“Doctor Smith, it’s _me_.” Will reached a hand out. “Will.”

“Will wouldn’t let himself go that far.” He stepped back recoiling from the younger man’s touch. “You look like a puppet that has fallen apart.”

“I am not a puppet.”

Smith glared back at the younger man.

“Then how come I landed in a foreign ship when I should have continued falling in time?”

“I made a time machine to save my family.”

“Will Robinson would never do that.”

“Yes, he would!”

“He would not.”

“How are you so sure of yourself? You are so arrogant just like him! You don’t even _know_ me.”

“I know Will Robinson far better than you do, dear sir.” 

“You knew a different man.” Then Will froze as his words echoed back at him. “But I am Will Robinson!”

“You just admitted that you are not him!” Smith held up a index finger. “So pardon me for having a hard time believing _that_.”

Will stared down the man but watched as the old man retained his defiance then the younger man sighed. 

“Why do you think that Will wouldn’t do that?”

“Three years in, after returning to space, we found a time lab, I tried to stop myself from being trapped and performing sabotage. He was resistant against going out and playing with time. Said it was the most precious item of all and should not be played with." he lowered his head playing with his fingers. "He was right." his voice grew smaller and regretful at the situation that had played out looking aside as he visibly trembled. "It turned out that . . . That. . . That my absence killed them all. His family chipped in their time to send Will and Robot after me. “

“There was no time lab three years in.” Will said. “I made the time lab. We are trying to save them.”

“His father gave five years of his life for my safe return.” Smith said. 

“Five years is a long time.”

“Indeed. The professor was still around when we played with Time twice.” Smith continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted as he walked away from the younger man then folded his arms. “I was freed from Time’s talons and into the arms of the Robinsons.”

Smith looked up with a bittersweet smile. 

“And they are not here for me, anymore.”

He turned toward the man who was a boy in his eyes with contempt in his eyes. 

“What you have done is something only Doctor Smith would do if he knew he could do it!” 

Smith jabbed a finger into the man’s chest so that Will stepped back with each searing, hate fueled, anguished, out raged word. He stopped once Will hit a wall then walked away. Smith folded his arms looking out the window the—Smith’s face faltered noticing there wasn’t any bright walls. It was completely dark in the lower level of the ship lacking individual walls that separated each room. However, it did have hulls far as he could see. It had plenty of catwalks with only railing and floors where necessary. He looked around the area in dismay then lowered his gaze toward the floor. He became very quiet. 

“I knew you sabotaged the mission. My father knew it. Don knew it.” Will said. “We put you in a cell.”

“Not true.” Smith said. 

“So we didn’t know in your timeline.” Will said. 

Smith looked back regretfully then closed his eyes in pain and cupped his hands together in his lap. 

“I destroyed everyone I loved by falling into that trash shoot.” Smith said, softly yet sincerely. “I made my sacrifice all for _nothing_.”

“That is . . .” Will said. “Horrible.”

Smith’s eyes flashed open then he stepped back right as Will reached a hand out for his shoulder. 

“So exxxxxcccccccuuusssee me for not believing that you are my friend!” Smith replied. “I watched him grow up into a real man. A man realer than I ever was!” he shook his fists for emphasis. Smith stepped back then turned away so that his back faced Will. “Now, my dear sir, get out of my face or kill me. Because I have _nothing_ of importance to share with you. ”

It was silent between them as Will did the math on what was the appropriate course of action. 

“Then I’ll have to kick you out.” Will said. 

“Good.” Smith had a genuine but a well aged polite smile with all the glee. “I won’t mind. In fact, I want it.”

“In five minutes.”

“Five minutes? Why not this moment? Want to terrorize me with the fact I am in the shell of the ship I called _home_?”

Will paused in his tracks at the mention of the word ‘home’ then turned toward the older man who’s back kept to him. The word home was never used by the spider. Someone who had only referred to the place as a prison facility, a empty husk, and a empty ship that would never fly again in the reaches of space. And the tone behind the word told him, it told him, it told him that Earth wasn’t on his mind as a place of residence.

Will turned around then resumed where he was headed to. He went deep into the supply closet then found the stash of camping gear that Mission Control had packed prior to departure. He took out a large backpack then returned to where he had left the man. He tossed the backpack to the floor and it slid across but was picked up by the straps by the older man. The older man turned in his direction then walked away headed for the exit way that Will had taken many times during the construction for the power generator. 

* * *

“Robot,” Will returned to the conn. 

“Yes, Will?” Robot shifted away from the control center

“I need to have your back,” Will said. 

“You always have my back, Will.” Robot said. 

“I mean it.” Will said. 

“There is danger.” Robot noted. 

“Lots of it,” Will said. “I am going to approach Doctor Smith this afternoon about the day the women died.”

“I will have your back.” Robot said. 

Will grinned. 

* * *

Spider stalked through the forest seeking for the guest. He had seen the guest taking a pause then rest and sat down on a boulder. He resumed his trek as the hours waned on coming to the crater that the Jupiter 2 had crash landed three decades ago. He continued his descent down the area much to the confusion of the spider. He was getting further and further away from the Jupiter 2 instead of staying around. The guest kept their back to him– turning away each time that he moved – as if anticipating the movement. 

As if he knew Spider very well. 

The spider and the guest were strangers.

“Perhaps William knows who they are.” Spider mused to himself.

Spider turned away then descended down the crater as Smith resumed walking on.


	3. knock you on your feet

They were back on the bridge, right back where they started. Right where it had all began in completely losing his family in the mission. A mission, that in many ways, was the downfall of the Robinsons. His shoulders lowered with a sigh. And now, that family was about to get even more smaller. If what he suspected was true, it was always as small as it was. 

“What is it, my dear son?” Spider asked. “Sadness of the monumental noble mission?”

“No.” Will said. “It is something else, Doctor Smith.”

“Well, chin up.” Spider said. “It shouldn’t matter.” Will stared back at the man in such a way that Spider paused then amended his comment. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“The day the spiders returned. . .”

“Yes, yes, and they ate the women. We have no idea where they came from.” Spider shook his changed hand quickly dismissing the subject. “Let’s not dwell on the past.” 

“I have always wondered where they came from.” He looked up.

“They glided through the atmosphere.”

“Doctor Smith.”

“They got into the ship.”

“Doctor Smith. . .”

“They stowed away in the docking bay.”

“ _Doctor Smith_.” Will said, exasperated. 

“Yes?” Spider replied. 

Will stared him down then the older man sighed then turned aside. 

“I can still remember their screams. Crying for help. Pleading. Calling my name. Calling your name, too.” Will stared at the man. “It lasted for quite a while. I have always suspected. . . But, I couldn’t quite believe it until today.”

“Oh?” Spider raised his eyebrow ridge. “What convinced you that I would be capable of such a heinous and horrifying crime?”

“I found out because, I was reminded, that I wouldn’t have made this machine if my family were alive.” he looked up toward the man from the console with a ominous glare that became followed by a smile. “Now, would I have made this machine they were dead? So. Did you do it?”

Spider smiled turning toward the younger man.

“And what are you going to do?” Spider asked with a tilt of his head. “I have all the power.”

“Spiders eat their own, don’t you remember?” Will asked, as Robot wheeled behind him. “I have all the power, old monster. You are just as powerless as you got stuck aboard my home.”

“And this visitor happened to know who you are? Who is he?”

“A certain old man who goes by the name Doctor Smith.”

Spider’s eyes flashed open. 

“You know he could be lying.” Spider said. 

Will remained undeterred.

“He has your face.”

Spider’s features fell.

“Oh.”

“He doesn’t believe I am who I say I am and doesn’t respect me the way that you do, Doctor Spider. Do you know what really happened to my father?” He stepped forward. “Do you know what happened to the major?”

“The ninny killed them by accident a week ago.” Spider revealed. “We were so close. So close to the machine working!”

“You should have told me.” Will said, sharply. 

“I feared, if I told you, this grand mission would be delayed,” Spider said. “and I was tired of waiting. So, I ate their corpses to spare you of burying the remains of your family”

“Robot.” Will said, his gaze unwavering from the older mutant.

“This is true.” Robot said. “I did not anticipate ever detecting Major West and Professor Robinson after thirty years. I am sorry.”

“And you covered it up.” Will said, his eyes full of rage, his eyes fixated on the mutant. “You would have killed me letting me think my father was somewhere lost in time.” 

He approached the creature then pointed at him, accusingly, his words dripping in anger.

“ALL! THIS! TIME!” he returned to the console then calmly added, “It’s time I cut the strings away and stop being your puppet.”

Will pressed a button and the generator for the time machine ceased. 

“Get out of my ship.” He stepped forward. “Or face the consequences of your actions.”

Spider slunk away over the younger man’s pointed glare. 

“Part 1 of mission, successful.” Robot announced once Spider descended down to the lower half of the ship. 

And Will smiled. 

“Ready to put the ship back together, old friend?” Will asked with a grin. 

“Ready and willing, Will!” Robot replied. 

* * *

Smith was tired as he kept walking on. 

He fell down to his knees then landed in front of a lake. 

“Woe is me. Woe is me.” Smith complained. “I have lost everything.”

Smith looked at himself in the crystal clear body of water that showed himself staring back at him.

“I gave everything for them and I . . . I. . . I took everything from him.” Smith said. “What have I _done_?”

Smith sat on to a boulder and wept into his hands. 

* * *

Will picked up a razor and scissors that following evening.

He picked up the scissors then cut away the excess hair that had grown giving it a good trim until it were short.

He looked more of a civilized man and he gave himself a unique trim to his beard until it were down to a science.

A science that he had became highly familiar to since being exiled on the planet for thirty years. Science that he had taught himself with someone to call friend and a figure to praise him and encourage him on his efforts. Raise him from where his father had left off.

He was a man of science, a man of pride, dignity, down to a goatee. He paused lowering the razor on to the side of the sink then clashed it against the surface. Flicks of hair fell on to the sink. He smiled, content, rubbing his chin. Will flipped a switch and all the hair was flushed down the drain.

Who was Will Robinson?

Someone who knew Time couldn’t be betrayed, misused, or attempted to use.

Time bit back and it back _hard_. 

Will felt better once he looked up at the mirror and felt a certain lightness about himself. He felt himself. He looked like himself. He could see his father’s eyes and his mother’s smile. He could see them standing behind him, this time, smiling back at him for a full minute. His smile grew fonder and warmer than it had been seeing _them_ again. Them, his family. It used to hit him with sorrow, regret, and anger; now, not anymore. He had his time. Too little, but enough. 

His mother was staring at him unharmed by what had killed her, his father still alive and well even appearing to be the same way that he had last seen him. How Will really last seen him before the Jupiter program had been started and took him away. His eyes developed a film of water so they became a blur to his eyes. With a blink, his parents were gone.

_See you, someday._


	4. A very short conversation

It was in the afternoon when Spider found the camp of the older counterpart. The camp was full of trees below the dark clouds that hung in the sky above his head. Spider came closer to the camp spotting his counterpart setting up a den. It was a den made of tree branches and drying mud that covered some of the improvised walls leaving large gaps for windows. The floor was barren and had yet to be covered. 

“Pardon me, dear sir, but why are you trespassing on MY property?”

Spider turned toward his counterpart then paused staring at him then smiled as his counterpart’s eyes flashed open and he staggered back. 

“You mean OUR property, ninny.” Spider grinned. “What were you thinking coming into MY timeline? Jumping in time to a different timeline instead of Earth and staying there for all you could care.”

“It wasn’t my choice,” Smith said.

“You flung yourself in,” Spider acknowledged. 

“True, true.” Smith said. “I did do that.”

“So it was your choice.” Spider reminded then stared at him in contempt. “Why would you do something as stupid as that?”

“I sacrificed my future, my past, my present for them in Time. I sacrificed a entire friendship and the chance to have a family so that they could get to Alpha Prime as a whole. I loved them more than I loved myself or anything for that matter.” Smith paused for a moment glaring back toward his older counterpart. “Is that enough for you?”

After a moment of silence, his counterpart replied, “Yes.”

“Stay away from me.” Smith said. 

“I intend to do so.” Spider stepped away. “You disgust me.”

“Enough not to attempt to kill yourself?” Smith asked. 

Spider rolled a eye. 

“The irony has not passed me with this opportunity.” Spider said. “It’s a shame though, I don’t want to do that right now.”

“In your right state of mind, you would!”

“Hmph, it wouldn’t be in my best interest.” Spider said.

“Yes, yes, it would!” Smith protested. “I am the you who is more appealing and one who doesn’t deserve the boy’s forgiveness. You do.”

“He isn’t open for that.” Spider replied. “Not after what you had done.”

“And, wouldn’t that mean, you have ample reason to kill me?” Smith asked. “Kill me and the only person willing to become his friend is you.”

“The time machine refuses to work, you ninny.” Spider said. 

“You refuse to kill me because there is some sane part of you who is too afraid of what Time might do in response. Time brought me, it spared me, it brought me here.” He glared at his counterpart. “I took everything away from you just as I did for Will.”

“You actually grew to care about the Space Waltons!” Spider waltzed away. “No matter, I never allowed myself to get close enough to them.”

“Because you couldn’t.” Smith repeated to himself as his counterpart walked away. “Because you couldn’t.”

And Smith resumed constructing his makeshift housing by picking up the large rock then put it in front.

Smith sat down on a fallen log and sighed, heavily, his arms against his chest. 

“Oh. . . the pain. . .” Smith whined. “The pain.”


	5. New guests

“Robot, what is the meaning of waking me up this late at night?”

“Intruders.”

Robot rolled back to reveal the two familiar figures sprawled on the floor. 

“Robot, get the mattresses out. And the blankets. Move them to the in progress bedroom.”

“Affirmative.”

Robot rolled away from the group then returned, dragging the blankets and mattresses in tow in unison. He dropped the materials on the other side of the building then moved the men with Will’s help. Will paced back and forth shaking his head rubbing the back of his neck.

Will went back up to the top of the ship and checked the systems. He looked back and forth, puzzled, furrowing his brows. Something wasn’t quite right and it wasn’t making sense. What was Time doing? Playing with him now that he had a piece of some other timeline living on the planet as he was? He looked out the window checking for scores of time bubbles. He remembered the first time bubble; the one that his father and pilot went into. Will paused in his tracks as his mind hit a wall. 

“Could it be?” Will turned toward the place where the astronavigator once sat. “That . . .”

He flicked the lights off on the bridge then returned down to the residential deck finding that Robot had set up the table in front of the stove. The stove door was closed with chicken being cooked inside of it. Two sets of folded chairs were set up side by side but across from each other on the side of the rounded table. 

“Robot, what are you doing?”

“I am giving the Jupiter 2 a much needed renovation.”

“I get that, but what are you doing? They may not want to eat right after you knocked them out.”

“Major West was complaining about not sitting down and eating prior to my plasma blast.”

“I will get what they need. We got enough to spare.” Will walked away then paused. “I got a idea. How about we turn the entire space into small cabins? We got more than enough room.”

“I find that a very adequate idea,” Robot said. “Soon as we get the hulls ready for the task, it will look a lot better.”

“It would!” Will said. “And maybe we should paint the walls? Wouldn’t brown look better?”

“A light brown would be a good color.” Robot replied. “I can generate the paint cans as necessary.”

“Not right now.” Will held his hand up. “Time to clean up the bathroom stall. Robot. Watch over them.”

“That I will do, Will Robinson.” Robot said, compliantly.

Will returned to the supply closet and took out the cleaning equipment then headed over toward the bathroom stall. He dropped the floor roombas and the wall roombas where they belonged as each of them became bound to the surface they were supposed to clean. Will touched them gently on the top then heard the click. He watched as the filth from the last several years were cleaned away in a little over a hour with his arms folded and flicked a switch. 

The lights struggled to come on at first then with the same intensity they once had; the dark gray was replaced by a bright gray. A bright gray that only Will had seen when he fled into the stall during the fear of the spiders still crawling around on the night after the demise of his sisters and mother. He could still remember the tapping over their screams. Waiting for someone to stop the nightmare. And instead, Will recalled, Spider opening the door then smiling down upon him sitting on the toilet seat. 

Will grew a big grin at the cleaned up room with his hands on his hips. He came back outside with the machines deactivated then slid out the filter and poured it out on to the ground. He set the floor based roombas on the ground then turned them back on again. He watched as the machines cleaned massive deck. Will performed the same task as before once they returned and turned them off again. The cleaning machines were returned into their resting perches in the supply closet then Will walked out to find the men looking around. 

“Where are we?” Don asked. 

John looked around then paused as he observed Robot.

“Any sudden actions will be rewarded by death,” Robot said. “Do not.”

Don raised his laser pistol up then Robot raised his plasma pistol. 

“Stop.” Will’s voice echoed as he walked out of the dark then flicked on the bare frame of the light switch and the entirety of the lower chamber came to life with the internal lights.

John turned toward the source of Will’s voice. 

“Who are you?” John asked. “Where is my family?”

Will stepped further toward him. 

“Three years, you ignored me. Like I didn’t exist.” He shoved the material into the man’s hand. “And then you were gone for thirty years.”

John looked from the material then up toward Will. 

“Get out of my ship and go back to your family and right this wrong. There is another me making this happen. Don’t screw up this second chance.” 

“Will?” John said. 

“Just go.” Will turned away. “Robot, hand over the chicken in a to go case.”

“But, Will—“ Robot protested. 

“They will need it going back out there and having a good decent meal.” Will said. 

“Affirmative.” Robot said. 

“Will, what happened?” John asked. 

“You don’t want to _know_ what happened.”

“What happened?” John repeated. 

“Mom, Judy, Penny, all dead. Smith ate them alive with his small sac of alien spiders, the alternate one, the one mutated by his spider infection. So I spent the better part of my life making a time machine. It didn’t work. And somehow, I attracted a different Doctor Smith a few days ago. But older. And human.”

Then he approached the major with tranquil rage.

“You, major, are the **second** reason why my family is dead.”

Will turned away then went up stairs as Don stood there, dazed, blinking at the abrupt roar. 

“I killed everyone.” Don said. “I am still going to get everyone killed. Everyone is going to die if we don’t kill him first.”

John was silent on the issue as he looked aside. 

“Will you kill him first if he approaches us?” John asked. 

“Affirmative.” Robot said.

“No matter the version?” Don asked. 

“The spider is the most likely one I will have to destroy, Professor Robinson.” Robot said. “It is not in his best interest to approach us. But, given that you have a readily available craft ready to flee this planet. . .”

“Wait,” Don said. “Listen.”

“Rain.” John joined the major’s side then peered out watching the darkness being overshadowed by rows of rain. 

“We’re not going out in the rain.” Robot said. “It grinds my gears.” Robot put the chicken back on the table then unlatched it. “Eat. Dinner.” Robot generated plates, silverware, and napkins on the table. “I will talk to him.” 

Robot wheeled up the stairs heading toward the upper section of the shop. 

“He can’t be serious about them being out in the rain.” Don said. 

“Maybe not in the rain.” John said. “Not exactly. Let’s have some dinner?” John eyed the chicken. “I haven’t had that kind of chicken in a very long time.”


	6. What are the chances

Spider hid in a tunnel and perched himself on a ledge. 

His arms were folded as he gazed down toward the dark and unsettling dark brown mud. 

The kind of life that flourished here was hardly desirable or welcomed, life that he despised, life that he had to get along with, life that kept him alive for all these years. Life had treated him well since becoming what he had been destined to become and he welcomed the change in his power and appearance.

He was stronger than anyone else could be. He was more intelligent than anyone else could be around him. And he had been caught blindsided by his own counterpart. A counterpart that lacked his intelligence.

* * *

The men silently ate their chicken that had been prepared by Robot over the passing hour. John’s eyes were fixated on the closed door to the ship. Don finished his plate of chicken then looked on toward the professor. The professor turned his attention upon the younger man who was staring at him with intensity. 

“What is on your mind, major?”

“I don’t mean to pry, Professor. . .” Don said. “But, it sounds to me that you neglected your son by a lot.”

John grimaced. 

“I made a teeny weeny mistake.”

Don stared back at the professor with a glare. 

“Uh, John, he resents you” Don said. “That’s not quite tiny.”

John fell silent. 

“When we get back to our time; I will rectify it,” John said. “I won’t ignore him.”

“If we ever do.” Don said, “Don’t you think that a lot of time may have passed between us leaving them from where they are in?”

“Yes.” John said. “My hope is that we’re not too late.”

Don lowered his gaze.

“Hope is all that we got.” Don said. “But if we’re trapped here, and you can’t rectify that mistake, you will have to live with that.”

“I know.”

“But . . . This bridge might be too burned to repair.” Don said.

“You don’t know that.” John said. 

Don glared down the professor. 

“You acted like he didn’t exist for three years.” Don reminded. “Maybe, just maybe, if you checked in on him occasionally in those three years your son wouldn’t resent you so much. Don’t family find ways to have time with each other?”

“Oh.” John said then was silent for the several minutes eating the meal, 

“What?” Don said. “What is it?” He raised his brow. “What is wrong?”

John cleared his throat then looked up toward the major in shame. 

“I just realized I became my father.” John said.“I became a stranger and a ghost to him.”

“You didn’t kill people.” Don said. “You were never deployed in the war.”

“I was barely in my son’s life when he needed me the most.” John said. “Might as well have been deployed.”

“Oh. . .” Don said. “That is a mess.”

“I did it all for him and I didn’t stop to think what he needed at that moment.” John said, regretfully looking up toward the upper deck. 

* * *

Will was in the chair looking out the window of the Jupiter 2. 

The stars were familiar companions; they were friends of Will’s. Friends that listened, stayed, and paid attention to him as silent watchers. Friends that gave gifts in the form of spaceships that landed and paid some visits to the craft from time to time but it was not that often. They were in a dry spell when it came to the guests. And now, he had a break in that spell when it came to the guests. Guests that he couldn’t stand to be around. 

Guests that he accepted couldn’t be changed or saved from their fates. Guests that couldn’t stay with him or go with. Guests that had a old friend who hadn’t been changed and ravaged by his illness. The thought of seeing his old monster as a young man once more brought a terrified feeling.

A feeling that threatened to consume him, threatened to freeze him, with the air of uncertainty. The fear of watching him become the creature that killed his family then be killed himself leaving only his younger counterpart. 

His parents were alive – if only briefly– and so were his siblings. He wanted to be with them. He wanted to join them back into space. He wanted to see if humanity reached Alpha Prime regardless of the sabotage. But the truth was, he didn’t belong there. He belonged to the present. Moving forward instead of moving backwards making a better day come to exist. Then his mind came to a halt.

_Oh._

It was then that Will understood Smith’s feelings all too well regarding the loss of his family. 

With that single unifying thought that he could relate to and could pity at once, Will fell asleep. 

* * *

“Bathroom is really clean.” Don said.

“Only part of the ship that hasn’t been salvaged for the electric power generator.” John said. “That arch must have been a kicker to make.”

“Had to be.” Don said. “Ready to give it another go?”

John looked up the stairs. 

“He hasn’t come down.”

“Last night was pretty eventful.” Don said. “Getting the chance to vent? Probably took out all the energy that he had.”

“He is forty something years old.” John said. “Nothing close to fifty.”

“He looked forty-three to me.” Don said. “Can you imagine the energy that he has devoted making that time machine? He is tired from all that work and letting himself sleep in for once on his own schedule.”

John turned away from the spiral staircase then back in the direction of the major. 

“Or he doesn’t want to say goodbye.” John said. “That is it. The last time . . . I told him I was going to come back.”  
  
John walked down the platform then Don followed.

Robot came down the stairs then looked down watching the men leave the craft.

Will slowly joined the machine’s side with his arms folded looking on toward the men who were heading in the direction that they had came into his world. They waited until the duo were distant figures to come down the platform. Will looked over toward the machine, a distant specter to John, then the professor turned his attention off the older man toward the destination ahead of him. 

“Feelings hurt?” Don asked. 

“Regret how everything turned out.” John said. 

“We have a chance to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Don said. 

“And save my family.” John said. 

“Mission continued and successful.” Don said then they were silent for several minutes as they trekked through the landscape. Don looked toward the professor then asked the blunt question, “What are we going to do about our Smith, though?”

John paused in his tracks looking aside and the major paused as well. 

“We will cross that bridge when we get there.”

“If there is another time bubble, permission to throw him in there?” John looked toward the major. “With survival gear.”

“I could live with that.” John replied with a nod then walked on. “He wouldn’t be there for long.”

* * *

Robot stood guard outside of the Jupiter 2 once the first shift of mining metal from the tunnels was completed. For the first time, it wasn’t for the machine that was to save the mission and the boy’s family, it was to put a ship together and make way for the stars for a better home. One that lacked any form of time bubble residue. It was the kind of event that warmed Robot’s processors, made his thinking go faster, and want to twirl in circles in glee. It was the kind of task that Robot felt made up for the last thirty years. 

He detected two lifeforms, in the middle of the night headed toward the Jupiter 2. 

He raised his plasma blaster in preparation to protect the Jupiter 2 as he always had. 

“Who goes there?”

“Just us.” Don said. 

“Identify yourself.”

“Major West,” Don said. 

“Professor Robinson.” John said. 

“Your mind waves confirm your identity.” Robot said. “You have returned. This does not compute.”

“Our time bubble is gone.” John said. 

Robot lowered the plasma blaster. 

“If you have returned,” Robot said. “We may have more visitors resulting in your lack of return.”

“Our versions?” John asked. 

“Uncertain.” Robot said. “You would be lost. Forever. In time. And never be able to return to your time.”

“What is the risk of that happening?” Don asked. 

“Five percent.” Robot said. “A very slim chance.”

“If it turns out we are living the five percent,” John said. “Then we are going to make the best of it.”

John sighed then walked on back inside of the Jupiter 2 then Don followed him in.


	7. A request in friendship

Finding Smith was another problem compared to finding his counterpart, Spider, someone who Will knew inside and out regarding where he would move himself to and hide in. The older counterpart resisted against the choice of caves around the crater. Unlike his counterpart, he had gone further into the spooky and cloudy forest that was visibly brighter than the one that Will had become accustomed to within the crater. But, still as familiar as he had explored in his childhood apart from constructing the time machine. 

It was night when Will found his way to the campsite. It’s warm yellow glow stood out against the dark landscape as a beacon of light. It reminded him of a old time movie scene where the sign of civilization was represented by lights in the old films. The bright lighting was his guide as he directed himself further into the forest line around the crater. Robot was behind him keeping his guard up. 

Will came to a pause after navigating through the forest to find a readily built hut with a improvised gate that was halfway open and a large berth stood out sideways from the apartment. The ceiling was covered in material that he couldn’t see in the night but had distinctive bumps that gave it a ceiling kind of look and the entrance of the hut had large rocks standing out. Will came to a pause at the opening of the campsite as the twigs cracked beneath his boots then the older man snapped his attention on to him.

“Can we be friends?” Will asked.

“No.” Smith said.

“Why not?” Will asked. 

Smith sighed then turned his attention onto his meal being cooked. 

“I took _everything_ away from you.” Smith said. “I hurt you. I used you. You don’t run back to the person who did that.”

There was a pause as Will looked aside thinking it over for a moment then his eyes landed on the man.

“You weren’t that man who ate people.” Will said. “That was a different person.”

“Not at all.” Smith shook his head. “I would have done the same if the circumstance were open.”

“You are someone else.” Will pointed out. “Said so yourself; everything is different here.” 

Will looked toward the small camp that the older man had set up then back down upon him as Smith sighed.

“And you?” Smith asked. 

“I am a different person just as you are.” Will said.

“And where are you going to?”

“Finding a Earth like planet to call home.” Will said. “Alpha Prime has been colonized by Global Sedition. Probably.” the younger man shrugged. “I have to think about my future. Not my entire species.”

“You need to think about this more than a day.” Smith replied. 

Will stared at the older man noticing how unwell he appeared; pale skin, glassy eyes, a fresh stubble. He was having it rough exposing himself to the outside elements and allowing himself to suffer. Allowing himself fall apart as a form of punishment. What better way of joining the people that he called family then allowing himself to get sicker and die? Will was silent as he realized in horror what Smith was doing to himself.

“It has been a week, Doctor Smith.” Will replied.

“You need to be without me to find yourself.” Smith said, softly. 

“I know who I am.” Will said. 

Smith looked from the fire pit toward Will. 

“Who are _you_?” Smith asked. 

“I am Will Robinson. I don’t kill people.” Will said. “I find diplomatic ways of going about it. I give people chances. This will be a second chance for both of us. A second go. We’ll become what we are not what we were.”

“You don’t give the murderer of your family a second chance.” Smith hissed. “I am not the person you should be giving a second chance after what I did to you for _thirty_ years.”

“You risked your past and your future for my family.” Will said. “You gave the ultimate sacrifice and expected nothing in return. Only a very cruel kind of fate that lead to the worst death there is. Being ripped to shreds by Time itself. Instead, it spared you. When you are ready to call me friend; I will be waiting.”

“I won’t be ready. Not any time soon. Not with the residue of his influence still all over your home.” He glared at the younger man. “Are you ready to let go of the last chance that could be in your arsenal to prevent this present from happening?”

Will looked aside giving it some thought then turned his gaze up toward Smith with resolve. 

“We can fix our future. It’s not written in stone, yet.” Will said. “We are the writers of it, Doctor Smith.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Smith glared him down. 

“With Robot’s help, all those modifications to the Jupiter 2 will be down before the year is over.” Will said as his voice became cheerful. “And she will be back to her old self again. We can be anyone we want to be out there."

Smith locked eyes with the man then walked away with a scowl. 

“Go away.”  
  
Will turned away then walked on back the path that he had came vanishing into the dark out of the light. 

“So.” the familiar voice made Smith close his eyes in pain with a heavy sigh. “I heard you are from a alternate timeline.”

“I meant all of you go away.” Smith said. “Including you. Major.”

“How did you worm you way out of going with us?” Don asked. 

“Easy. Dropping my communicator.” Smith said. “You never found out until you had to. The G-force of the flight knocked me out for eight hours.”

“And you spent. .” Don said. 

“Thirty years.” Smith said. 

“With them.” Don said. “How the hell did you not die?”

Smith smiled to himself at first then his smile became smaller and wistful as he looked over toward the major 

“I keep asking myself that.” Smith replied then held out the stick for the major. “Have a roasted mouse.”

“Sorry, no.” Don said. 

“Suit yourself,” Smith bit into the tail then proceeded to chew with the major’s eyes on him. “Always the person who says no to the opportunity.”

Don stared at the man. 

“Do not.”

“You just said no to a tasty snack.” Smith replied. “That is just a example.”

“Give me that!” Don took the stick then bit into the leg of the creature then proceeded to chew and toss chunks of the skeleton over his shoulder. “Damn,” he chewed then grinned between the bites. “that was actually kind of great.”

Smith laughed, slapping his knee, then lowered his head as his figure shook with laughter that became weeping as he was hunched over. It didn’t last long. His laughter ended in a few minutes with the major staring at him. Smith leaned up from his knees then flicked off one of the last tears from his face and looked up toward the younger man with a tearful smile. 

“Seasoning always makes things better,” Smith said. “No spice makes things bland. Very bland.”

Don stared down the older man and locked his eyes toward him. 

“Why are you not freaking out at seeing me?” Don asked. 

“Because Major, I have been through my share of weird.” His smile widened into a grin as he faced the major. “It was part of my happy ending.”

“What is this then?” Don asked. 

“The middle of the happy ending,” Smith smiled with one hand squeezing the side of his arm. “I will be going home. Soon.”  
  
Don’s eyes widened as the older man’s blue eyes stared at night sky toward the exposed stars. 

“That . . .” Don argued back. “Is not a happy ending. That is a bad ending.”

“Your family will love you, Don.” Smith said. “The one you’re going to have. Don’t throw it away.”

Don stepped forward. 

“You need medical attention, doc.” Don said.

Smith closed his eyes. 

“No. Let me die, Major. It’s all you really ever wanted,” Don looked aside listening to the older man. “The saboteur out of the way.”

Don stared as Smith opened his eyes and faced him. 

“You can’t see me as a equal.” Smith continued. “And you won’t ever see me as a equal. Not even if I were a old man.”

Don saw behind those bright blue eyes were the same man that lied to him only hours ago about his role in Robot’s rampage. 

“So don’t pretend around me that you care because I know you better than I know myself.” his words were hard and hurtful, but honest.

“Are you willing to die because you don’t belong in this timeline?” Don asked. 

“I am a relic of what once had been.” Smith said. “A bare reminder of what I had no longer being the first thing I see when I look at my hands, at my face, and hair.”

“. . . Damn.” Don said. “That’s deep.”

“Nothing is deep when it comes to love.” Smith sniffled. 

Don looked aside thinking it over then reached a hand out, through the hurt, through the rage, through the sorrow, then put it on Smith’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry.” Don apologized. 

Smith looked toward Don, apologetically. 

“I am not the Smith you should be apologizing to, dear Don.” Smith said. 

Don sighed, lowering his head for a moment, then raised it up and met the older man’s gaze. 

“Okay, truce?”

“Truce is; Go home!”

“Love to, but we’re very lost.”

“Idiot, are not. That craft gave you charts to Earth and Alpha Centauri!”

“Wait, they do?”

“Yes. . . they do. Now, go away.” then his voice turned into a whine. “Please?”

“Fine, fine,” Don said, then turned away. “I am going!”

Smith sat back down then started to cook his second rat. 

“Ah, sweet silence.” Smith smiled. 

Abruptly, Smith fell to his side with a groan. Will appeared from behind him dropping the branch then looked toward where Don had walked toward. 

“Thanks, Don, for distracting him.” Will grinned. 

“No problem.” Don returned. 

“Help me lift him on to Robot.” Will said.

“Sure.” Don said then helped lift the older man on to Robot’s waiting back.


	8. To right a wrong

Smith was laid on a bed hooked up to several tubes hooked into his skin and under his nose with his skin visibly recovering from the week long ordeal being watched by Don. Fluids and nutrition were seeping through the equipment helping him in regaining his health. His body was laid on a anti-gravity bed on the lower deck of the Jupiter 2.

Robot stood close monitoring his health in the mist of slumber.

Don was looking on incredulously toward the resting form of the older man.

“How long is he going to be asleep?” Don asked. “It’s been eight hours.”

“I don’t know.” Will said. “I never treated someone elderly as he was.”

“Not even the spider?” Don asked. 

“He didn’t get hurt often enough.” Will said. 

“I thought he—“Don pointed toward the older man. “was here longer than we were.”

“Yes, but . . .” Will said. “He hadn’t been around that closely. Not since he got here.”

“Oh.” Don said. “He purposely is trying not to get attached to you.”

“He was never really attached to me in this timeline.” Will said.

“He used you.” Don said. “That is your answer.”

Don walked away.

"It is." Will agreed, softly, to no one.

* * *

Hours turned into days as the men went about reconstructing the Jupiter 2 from the ground up restoring parts of it that had been cannibalized for the time machine. It was going to take time just to remove the power generator from the roof of the ship and time is all that they had. The men stared at the two arches sticking out of the top. 

“Did you model this after the golden gate bridge?” John asked. 

John looked toward Will. 

“I may have.” Will said. “As a reminder of what we left behind.”

John looked aside then walked on. 

“That will take awhile to take down.” John said. 

Will looked on, his arms folded, grimacing from the statement of fact.

* * *

“Doctor Smith is awake.”

Robot’s sudden announcement brought Will out of his train of thought. He discarded the crate of raw ore to the side then fled on toward the direction of the Jupiter 2 leaving John behind. He ran on inside then came to a halt spotting the groaning older man left on a biobed. He slid off the edge of the biobed in a new change of clothes and looked toward the younger man with a glare that could kill a rabbit if it were staring at him instead. 

“Good morning, Doctor Smith.”

John slowly joined Will.

“That . . . is a very Will thing of you to do.”

“You were the sickest I have ever seen someone.” Will said. “You got your back infected intentionally by itching it and opened it.”

There was no answer from the older man who was only looking aside.

“Were you intending for hypothermia to kill you?” John asked. 

Smith’s attention fell square on John. 

“Natural causes.” Smith replied. 

“Hypothermia is not natural nor are infections, Smith.” John replied as Will was glaring back toward the older man. 

“How many did I have?” Smith asked. 

“A couple.” Will replied. 

“That is prized medication for your crew.” Smith said. 

“He has enough medication to last a entire colony.” John said. “Hardly used it in the last thirty years.”

“Hardly?” He furrowed his brows together in skepticism. 

“Yeah.” Will confirmed. “Hardly.”

“Sorry to intrude, but our time portal is back!” Don announced at the doorway of the Jupiter 2 drawing the attention of the professor. “We’re going home! Home!”

John grinned.

“Lead the way, Don.” John said. 

The two men descended the platform to the Jupiter 2 then left. John noticed the path that was being taken to the Jupiter 2 was not the same one they had undertaken only days earlier. They came to a pause at the wall making up the crater. The time bubble reappeared with the Jupiter 2 in tact. Behind them approached Smith and Will who came to a pause watching them cheer at the reappearance of their ship. Robot paused beside the two men. 

"Shame. . .” Smith joined the younger man’s side. “That they couldn’t stay.” 

Will looked toward the older man then lifted a brow. 

“Sentimental, Doctor Smith?” Will asked. 

“A bit sad that a wrong couldn’t be rightened.” Smith said. “Hardly sentimental.”

“As am I.” Robot said. “To right my wrong. . .”

“This time portal wasn’t supposed to exist. And yet, it did.” Will said then watched as the men paused in their tracks ahead of them. 

Don turned toward the professor then nodded and walked on. The professor waited for a few minutes then watched as the man came back down the stairs shaking his head then returned out of the portal leaving the alternate Jupiter 2 behind.

Moments later, they watched as a alternate Smith was shoved out of the ship and he stumbled down landing to the ground with a thud. He picked up a survival backpack then scrambled away from the alternate Jupiter 2 heading for the crater. The landing gear retracted then the ship flew into the heavens leaving it behind. 

“What happened back there?” Will asked.   
  
“That wasn’t our way home.” John said.

Smith watched the bubble vanish as did his counterpart in the blink of the eye. 

“And you told them about my part in their demise, major.” Smith said, exasperated. 

“I can’t keep my mouth shut when I have a laser pistol AIMED AT MY FACE!” Don said. 

“Self-preservation at its finest.” Will said. “It’s okay, Don. I would have done the same.”

“We will not do that again.” John said. “No matter how tempting it is. We are not going into another Jupiter 2 and interfering in their continuity.”

“So it seems that we’re stuck here.” Don said. 

“Lost in time.” John grimaced with a nod. 

Will looked aside then turned his attention upon them. 

“I will take you to Alpha Prime A,” Will said. “That’s it. That’s all I am doing. And then I will find myself a place to call home.”

“Surely, Global Sedition or Alpha Base Control may be helpful in finding a place on the planet—“

“No. Not on Alpha Prime A.” Will shook his head. “I want _nothing_ to do with Alpha Prime A.” 

Will walked on ahead of the men. 

“I see that the rift between father and son was never quite patched up before the space bubble was born.” Smith said, bitterly. 

John looked toward Smith then walked on after Will. 

Smith looked the other way from the men then back toward Will and walked away but this time feeling a warmth in his heart spreading that a wrong was beginning to be corrected. 


	9. Choosing your family

It was late at night when Will returned to the older man’s camp to check on him.

The camp fire was dead and the door was ajar to the room.

Snoring came from inside of the hut.

Will looked on to the place that the man had decided to call as home for the moment. A place that wasn’t very well decorated. There were new decorations that were there from the last time that he had visited with a improvised field set about area with new bushes that weren’t there before.

His blanket was left aside on the ground on the sleeping bag. It was as if the older man had decided to try finish what he had started and failed to do with the rescue launched by the young man to make sure that he lived on his watch. Will knelt down beside Smith then took out the tarp that was inside of the survival kit and unfolded it. 

Will dropped the tarp on to the older man’s figure then walked away then closed the door behind him. 

* * *

“Robot,” Don approached Robot taking off his gloves and dropped the pick axe into the crate beside him. 

His face was covered in sweat and filth as he took off from the tunnel. Robot handed a wet towel to the major then the younger man cleaned his face using the towel and cleaned off the tunnel’s dirt off his face. He handed it back to Robot then it was gone in a second. Don looked up toward Robot and Robt’s helm twirled.   
  
“Yes?” Robot turned toward Don. 

“How does it feel to have a human Smith and a mutant Smith hanging around the crater?” Don asked. 

Robot lowered himself then turned away.

“I have nothing to discuss about this matter.” Robot said. 

“Oh, sure you do.” Don said. 

“My loyalty is to Will Robinson.” Robot turned toward Don.

“No, it’s not about loyalty, Robot.” Don said. “It’s about how your circuits, your sensors, your atomic engine feel about having two saboteurs who could turn against you at any moment without a reason.”

“I do not quite. . .”

“Like it?”

“At all.”

“It is disconcerting.”

“Affirmative.”

“Robot, I have some faith that his days as the person that I knew are over.” Don explained. “It’s a feeling.”

“What does your feeling say about the spider?” Don asked. 

“That it isn’t quite over as I process it is.” Robot said. 

“Robot, how about we go and check on the human Doctor Smith?” Don asked. 

“It has been precisely a month and two weeks since we last treated his infected back.”

“Even the more reason to visit him!” Don grinned then Robot bobbed his helm up. “Thought we would never get along after what happened.” he shook his head in mirth. “Glad I am proven to be wrong. I just finished my shift.” he motioned his head on with a grin. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Don and Robot traveled away from the mine with Robot’s plasma blaster ready and operational for the sudden appearances of a alien. It was quiet for the exception of hearing something moving around them. Don had a pause then looked around the area searching for the source of the noise with one hand on where his laser pistol should be. Robot smacked Don against his chest knocking him back as the mutant Smith came out of the dark.

Spider had completely shed his wardrobe in for a completely naked appearance with his double jointed features standing out. He ran forward with a hiss then Don began to run ahead. He slid down into a wombat hole and hid out of fear. Robot wheeled forward then grasped the man by the leg and swung him far away causing to dislocate the primary arm. Spider yipped crashing to the ground then hissed and Robot aimed the blaster at the creature with little to no words.

Spider fled leaving Robot behind. Don slowly crept out of the tunnel then joined Robot’s side and looked around. Robot shoved a spear into the man’s hand as he silently trekked on into the afternoon light that had fog drifting through the area. Don looked around the area as he walked on. 

“That must have been rough.” Don noted. 

“Doctor Smith died a long time ago.” Robot said. 

“The man that you knew?” Don asked. 

“Affirmative.” Robot replied. 

“How things have fallen since we crashed here.” Don mused.

“He was Will’s teacher. Father. And protector.” Robot stated. “More than the professor ever was.”

“Were things kind of good for a time?” Don asked. 

“Before he completely vanished. Before he died. With the women, there were good moments. We had our moments. We had a chance and. . . Somewhere between completely mutating and the women’s death, he went insane. I watched Will become a puppet. I watched as Doctor Smith kept a persona up. I watched as the Jupiter 2 became a hallowed out version of herself. Things were not good after the women died.”

Don nodded. 

“Dark.” 

“Affirmative.”

“How far are we from his camp?”

“A hour according to my long range sensors.”

“Good.” Don grinned. “It won’t be long.”

* * *

Smith waked off from his camp and went over to his naturally chosen bush to relieve himself behind.

He hummed to himself a song then picked off several blueberries from the bush and popped them into his mouth at a time.

He licked around his lips then returned to what he was doing focusing on the area in front of him. He heard the sound of twigs crunching. He looked over his shoulders spotting nothing was amiss then turned his attention back then finish off peeing then lifted his briefs over. 

“What was the older me like?” Don’s unexpected voice came beside him. 

Smith’s eyes flashed open then zipped his pants up and walked off. 

“That’s a fair question, Doc.” Don said. “Don’t run away from me like you are doing with Will.”

Smith paused then lowered his head with a sigh. 

“Someone I respected.” Smith said. “Someone who didn’t let their rage control them. Someone who used his anger wisely. Someone who treated women with respect after learning it wasn’t wise to do that.”

Don was quiet as Smith walked on leaving him to the bushes then looked on toward the man’s figure that was becoming distant.  
  
“I am going to be a better man starting right this moment!” Don vowed. 

Then Don turned toward Robot. 

“He is fine.” Don said then walked away from the bush and waved his hand. “Pee yewh, that smells horrible.”

“That is the bathroom, Major West.” Robot said. 

“OH YUCK!” Don went over to a boulder then grabbed a stick and proceeded to wipe off the dirt from his boot. 

Robot laughed, mechanically. 

* * *

“Good morning, Doctor Smith,” Will said. “You look exceptionally happy today.”

Smith’s grin grew even wider. 

“I found a spacecraft belonging to a breed of people who need brains to operate their craft and they have offered to show me the entire universe in its glory.” Smith said. 

“And?” Will started to grow concerned compared to the man’s glee. 

“I am taking their offer.” Smith said. 

“But, Doctor Smith, you’ll be dead!”

“Not dead.” Smith shook his head. “Alive. And going somewhere in this sorry state of fate.”

“You wouldn’t really live.” Will said. 

“I would.” Smith said. 

“As a brain?” Will asked, baffled. 

“As a brain, indeed!” Smith smiled, briefly raising his brows, in a good mood. “I am a paradox, Will. I shouldn’t exist at all! So, I will be doing what Time neglected to do.”

“Then why are you telling me this?” Will asked. “If you have already made the decision.”

Smith grew a small bittersweet smile.

“Because I like to leave you with knowing I left and that I knew the consequences behind my actions.” He looked toward the two men then back toward Will. “Unlike your father.”

Smith turned away then descended down the platform leaving the unable to reply young man. 

“That is a cruel kind of fate, Doctor Smith.”

Smith looked aside in a moment with some pause. 

“I know that.” Smith said. “But one in which you don’t lose anyone else over it in your family.” He turned toward Will. “Good-bye, Will.”

Smith resumed walking on ahead of the younger man. He trailed further and further away from the Jupiter 2 leaving it behind. Will turned away from the entrance to face the two men sliding in a panel to the hull putting it back in. The men made sure it was in tight then stepped back observing how it fit in neatly to the schematic of the ship. They were finishing it up when John turned toward the older man who was staring off the entrance. 

“Will, what is wrong?” John asked.

Will turned toward him. 

“Doctor Smith is going to eliminate a time paradox.” Will said. 

“What time paradox?” John asked. 

“Himself.” Will said. 

“I hope you mean the version that is a spider and not himself.” Don said.  
  
“The human version.” Will said, quietly. 

“It is for the best,” John said, then Will raised his head up and his gaze was fixated on him. “Alright, Don. Looks like we got the interior wall in place.”

“Why is it for the best?” Will asked. 

“If we get to Alpha Prime, he may throw us under the bus and not vouch for our character if Global Sedition has colonized the system.” John turned toward the younger man. “If we introduce ourselves as newcomers seeking for somewhere to call home then everything should go about smoothly.”

“Blending in should be smooth sailing.” Don said. 

Will turned away from John as he began to think.

“As smooth as it can get.” John said. 

_“Who are you?”_

It was a common question for those who just met Will

Who was he? He was a grown Will Robinson. He was the older Will Robinson. Cynical, bitter, with little hope to go on. _That has to change._ He shook his head. He had changed so much since coming to this planet and he was trying to salvage the Jupiter 2 to his best ability. The Jupiter 2 and Will had changed. It had parts of his family in her design, his father, his sister, with their hand in its construction. And what was left of him? Someone chasing after hope with reminders of the past around him.

What would the child that he used to be along time ago do? What would the Will Robinson of thirty years ago done if it weren’t just him and Smith on the planet in the beginning and someone else that he cared about had survived? Someone who had sacrificed everything for him and had paid attention to him. Someone who did their best to make sure that his future was better than how their future was. Someone who regretted how things turned out. _I am going after him._

Will looked up toward the ceiling as his imagination worked in to overdrive reconsidering the entire planning of the upper bridge and its schematics. It began to come together piece by piece regarding how he wanted it to be. He began to smile with his arms folded. He gave it a few minutes of thought. He could see it in his minds eye of what a few more weeks of mining and foraging for tech among the discarded spacecrafts would do in reconstructing the bridge to his ideal form. 

Will lowered his attention then went down the waiting platform and walked after Smith. 

* * *

_“Doctor Smith,”_

_Smith turned away from the door leading into his room._

_“Yes, Madame?” he raised a brow._

_“I want you to do me a favor.” She came to a stop in front of him._

_Smith nodded._

_“I will do anything, for you, madame.” Smith said. “What is the emergency.”_

_“If we do something for Will, then you . . .” She didn’t finish it._

_“Then you need me to be there for him.” Smith replied._

_“No. We need you to make sure it sticks.” Maureen said._

_“You should be asking the ninny to do this.” Smith frowned._

_“Will can easily change Robot’s order.” Maureen said. “You are his friend. You can talk him out of it. I need you to do this for John and I’s sake.”_

_“And the professor is not telling me himself because . . . . ?” Smith asked._

_“He doesn’t want to argue.” Maureen said._

_“I see. I will see what I can do.” Smith said. “Madame. . . we have been here for a year. We are not going to spend our natural lives on this planet.”_

_“Doctor Smith, he listens to you.” Maureen said. "He hasn't gotten into trouble often as he did on Earth."_

_"And you think it is because of my presence." Smith replied._

_"Yes." Maureen had a short nod. "You're the friend that I didn't think he needed."_

_Maureen walked away leaving the silenced doctor then he went inside the quarters and closed the door._

_Smith stared on toward the window to his quarters blinking, processing, listening to her steps walk away._

_And a part of him was terrified of what he was going to become._

_A second father figure._

_"Appalling!" Smith shuddered in disgust. "I have to talk to him about that."_

* * *

Will searched through the environment with Robot’s help to find the ship and Smith. Eventually, they came to a stop spotting a tall craft that resembled a odd chair with a pulsing yellow eye center resting on the top of it. Smith was walking on ahead of him getting closer to the craft. Will stared in awe then began to walk on after him.

“Doctor Smith,” Will called after the older man. “Could you wait a minute?”

Will was a few steps away when before his eyes the older man’s figure vanished out of existence. 

“Where is he, Robot?” Will asked. 

“He is inside of the craft.” Robot reported. “My sensors indicate that he is preparing to give away his brain.”

Will looked aside searching for the words to start with but it wasn’t long that he had to think and started to speak from the heart.

“Doctor Smith, I know you had your time with my family and I know you loved them very dearly.” Will began. “You spent most of your life growing old with them and I am sure that to them as they grew old with you was the most wild experience they got to have.”

Will felt a tinge of envy. _He got to be around them longer. But, that is okay._ Smith had became a better man because of it. 

“I am sure you have some good memories with them. If they knew you were in the dark this far, willingly, sinking down into it instead of holding on to the strands of hope. . . They wouldn’t want you to embrace this kind of hopelessness. They would want you to do what is best for you and your golden years.”

Will shook his head. 

“Doing it this far from home? It isn’t for you or what you deserve. My family may be smaller, now. But, it’s made of people that I choose. And I choose you to be part of it.”

Will looked aside, reflecting, then faced the spacecraft. 

“You’re right, it’s a cruel kind of way of gaining a family. And you would still be sacrificing yourself all for nothing. Do you really want that? Because my family would be extremely small if you do.”

One of the creatures watched, as Smith slowly began to lose his grim, certain, professional demeanor until his previous demeanor had all been dropped aside. It was if it were a gun that served no purpose to him. Smith started to sniffle and become tearful. 

“You and Robot are all that I got left. The one people who don’t try to use me. People who make me strive to be a better man than I was before." Will looked aside with a pause. "I don't know about Don and dad but they're strangers who just entered my lives and I am terrified that they are going to leave, _again_ , once the opportunity comes up. And never come back. I don't know if I should consider them family.”

The creatures from inside stared at Smith, incredulously, watching as he cried. 

“What are you doing! Stop that! The computer power cells can’t take this!”

“Sorry.” Smith apologized. “I can’t help it.”

“You don’t need to do this." replied the voice of the aliens around him in the dark. "You have agreed to do this for us and well aware of the costs to helping us."

"Plainly." Smith said.

"You have agreed to let go of the emotional blockages in your mental circuits." the disembodied voice replied. "We have allowed you to say your farewell as asked for this flight to get off this miserable planet.” Even more tears proceeded to come down. “It will be fine. We will return you.”

“No.” Smith protested, shaking his head. “I am not crying because I am leaving him.”

“Then why are you crying?” was the exasperated but confused voice. 

“Because I _love_ him.” Smith admitted. 

“LOVE!” the alien balked. “You kill others relentlessly in the name of love!”

Smith shook his head. 

“Hate, greed, power are entirely different subjects, dear sir.” Smith replied. "And so is revenge."

“Stop crying.” 

The comment only made him cry even more, harder, sniffling. 

“Leaving him all alone like that? I can’t.”

Smith broke apart.

“I can’t! I can’t do it!” his figure trembled in the pod on the chair as tears rushed down his cheeks. “I can’t leave him! I choose him! I choose him!”

From outside, Will watched on waiting in anticipation for the response. He waited to watch the ship leave him behind and prove to him, once again, that someone was ignoring him. That he would always be ignored when it came to matters of this importance. Robot twirled his helm as he turned away from Will's side.

“Doctor Smith!” Robot cried. 

Will turned in surprise in the direction that Robot was turning toward. A figure had popped into existence among the plant life. Surprised, shocked, stunned were feelings that froze him then all those feelings were replaced by concern. Will bolted after the older man then knelt down to his side and checked for a pulse. _Lup-dup lup-dup lup-dup lup-dup._

For the first time in a very long time, Will began to sport a grin. He never felt his grin being this wide before or the warmth that spread throughout his chest. Nor had he experienced the feelings that brought tears to his eyes. It was different from the day that he had cried for the loss of his family on a rainy day. 

Will relaxed listening to the groaning coming from the alive man.

His grin faded unto a grim look as he looked up toward the direction of the ship. 

The ship was glowing on and off in a white color that reminded him of a old science fiction film.

“We need a brain. Our ship is nearly powered. If we do not leave this planet without a brain, then we will die.”

Will looked down toward the older man. 

“Is he okay?” Will asked. 

"My sensors indicate his mind waves are stable." Robot said. "Health wise, I do not have the advanced sensors to determine."

There was a brief wall of complete silence from the aliens as Will stared back at the ship. 

“He is suffering for backing out.”

Will nodded then looked down upon Smith; _he’s proven me wrong for the first time._ He looked back toward the ship. 

“I know—“ Will cut himself off then smiled to himself and began correct himself. “We know someone who can help you out.”

“Who?”

“I’ll bring them to you.” Will said, grinning, then tossed Smith on to Robot's back. “You decide for yourself if he is worth the hassle.”


	10. Giving a chase

Will traveled within the crater searching for the spider with Robot’s aid by his side. His blue eyes scanned the terrain taking in the detail of the area. The fog lurked in the air and the darkness was overcast above their heads. Don was afar looking around with a hand on his laser pistol keeping a wary eye out for the beast. Robot smacked a claw against the younger man’s chest knocking him back with a thud. He looked up and watched as a familiar figure strolled into the area out of the tunnel. 

“Well, well, look what the machine dropped in.”

Will lifted himself up. 

“Here to ask for my safe and humble return?”

Will chuckled then shook his head. 

“I am hardly in the position to ask for you to come back.”

“Hmm. . and what must have brought you here?”

“To applaud you.”

“Me?” He put a hand on his chest. “How flattering.”

“You used me for thirty years without revealing your part in the death of my mother and sisters. Without confirming my speculation.”

“Without dropping a beat, you laid some eggs then hid yourself and waited until your trap was set off three years after being stranded on the planet. You lured my mother and siblings to their deaths in the middle of the night then went out.”

“You returned to your cell and cowered. Cowered. Like a coward. You coward while my sisters and mother were being eaten alive! You could have hacked into the system and gone in easily, but no, you went in long after they were dead and killed the space spiders while they were distracted.”

“That was the powerless and less immortal being.” 

“And you know what makes you not the kind to applaud?”

“What?”

“You’re too cowardly to finish what you started thirty years ago, old monster.” 

Spider scowled then was about to retort when a thought struck him and he grinned raising his head up high. 

“Don’t mind if I do!”

Spider lunged out at him and Robot fired a warning shot. He missed with the older creature fleeing on after the younger man. The younger man fled through the landscape with a few stumbles to his feet landing on to his hands and knees. 

He fled down several ravines with the occasional moments of Spider lunging over the ravine then crashing down blocking his path. Several times, Spider was interrupted before he could finish what he had started by Robot’s plasma blasts and Don’s sudden but abrupt appearance that surprised him. In surprise, disgruntled, he shoved aside the younger man to the ground without harming him.

Will returned to the area where the unusual craft was then skid to a halt behind it and the creature stalked after him walking around the craft. Will came to a pause in his tracks and reached his hand for the laser pistol only to stop mid-way several feet from the older man and the creature came to a halt with a grin. He looked over toward the distance scanning the area for the companions who made the journey to the ship difficult.

“Ready to meet your fate?” Spider asked. 

“Are you ready?” Will asked. “The only fate resting before you is crueler than the one you have lived.” 

Spider grinned. 

“I am ready.” Spider replied. 

He stalked forward then froze where he stood.

“Good-bye, old monster.” Will said. 

“What in the heaven's is going on?” He was drawn away. “What are you doing?”

Will was smiling as he watched the older creature be forced to stagger back before his eyes. Spider screamed in anger drawn further away from the younger man until his back met the craft then with a final scream, he vanished. The spider landed on the floor on his face then groaned as he lifted himself up. 

From outside, Will turned away then walked on back the way that he had came running from approaching the armed Major and Robot then gave a thumbs up and a grin. From inside of the craft, Spider stretched out observing that he were in a massive black room with crystal beads hanging from the air. He spotted the view screen and scowled. Something wasn’t quite making sense.

“Prized specimen.”

Spider turned in the source. 

“What is two plus two?”

“Four.”

“What is five times six?”

“Thirty.”

“What is pie?”

“3. 14.”

“What is the answer to life?”

“Power.”

“No, it’s 42. But you’ll do.”

“I’ll do what?”

“Being our guidance control system."

“I am GOD!” Spider cried.

"That you are not."

"How dare you insult me!" He was forced to a stop in front of a platform. "I am not a mere lackey! I have strength! Immortality!" he stretched his arms then motioned toward his egg sac. "I have a arsenal!"

"That is insignificant as we can remove remove the pests."

His gaze wandered about the room.

"Stop controlling my body, you lunatic asylums!”

He saw two short white figures lacking noses, ears, and eyes from across. 

“Forget those who have wronged you and betrayed you.” was the calm reply. “We require only your intelligence.”

“Let me go!” Spider demanded.

“You are not well according to your mind scans." A large device retracted out of the ceiling above his head then began to lower quickly down. "We can fix that."

"I am better this way!" Spider declare. 

With emphasis, the spider's long neck extended then hit his head against the bulb.

"Ow!" Spider shook his head. "Leave it be!" He snarled. "I will make sure they make you regret it."

"You are better being in control of machines."

"Of machines. . ."

"You shall be immortal for thousands of years as a brain. The only caveat is that you bare no emotion."

"No emotion. Total domination. Having the upper hand."

"Yes."

"I can live with that. And I shall be worshiped as a God that I rightfully am?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get started, gentlemen!" Spider grinned, clapping his hands together then rubbed them. "How do you start the process?"

"We reduce your size to fit the available space." Was the reply as the machine clasped beneath the edge where his neck ended then Spider felt a strange sharp pain from his neck. “You will help us. And you will enjoy it. Clear your mind and forget the life before."

And he did, at that exact moment, he did only what Smith would have done long ago had love not corrupted him.

 _Gleefully_.


	11. Sour but uplifting

“What happened?” John asked. 

Will turned away from the restored biobed toward his father.   
  
“He choose _me_.” Was all Will said. 

He was grinning. There was a light in his eyes that John hadn’t seen in him in a long time. Or anyone else for that matter. Perhaps, it was hope, optimism, and faith all mixed into one feeling. He was visibly happier. John looked down toward the resting man on the biobed than back up toward the older man. 

“Who did you give?” John asked. 

His smile grew wider. 

“Our uninvited passenger?”

Will nodded. 

“Was it worth trading another being up just for him?”

Will didn’t hesitate as he nodded.

“Are you sure with that blood on your hands?”

Will had a short laugh, folding his arms, stepping back from John as if the younger man had made a joke. 

“Will. Get it off your chest. Talk to me about it.”

He looked up toward John. 

“Unlike you, I made that decision for other people and paid attention to the person I was doing it for.” Will said. “Even as little attention as I could . . . I won’t ignore his existence.”

The words were a stab to the heart with a cynical look in the older man’s eyes. There was little faith in them directed at John with resentment. 

“I never meant to ignore you.” John asked. 

“Was Earth really healthy when we left?” Will asked. “Don’t lie to me. You said you were doing the program for your family and your actions said **OTHERWISE**.”

“It was dying.” John said. 

Will’s face fell. 

“Will. . . I. . . I didn’t want to burden you with the details.” John said. “I didn’t want to frighten you. Or be terrified. You were a kid.”

“Well, dad, everything you did was the exact opposite,” Will said, bitterly. “Spare me the apologies.” He shook his hand in mid-air then sat down in the chair alongside the medical bed. “They won’t erase three years of being there but not completely being there.” 

“I can try to do better this time.” John said. “I won’t throw it away. I promise.”

Will looked up skeptically toward John. 

“Every day, I find myself understanding the person that Smith was when he entered our lives.” Will said. “We’re not that different, asides to the part about forgiveness, in that way.”

“He rubbed off on you.” John said. “He didn’t raise you.”

Will stepped up from the chair. 

“How dare you say that. How dare you. He kept me alive and taught me what a father is really like.” Will hissed. “Even if he was **EMULATING** what a parenting figure should be.”

John stepped back as he realized that he had touched a nerve then winced and walked off joining the pilot for the morning rounds. Will sat down into the chair and waited for the older man to wake up. Hours passed this way.

* * *

The older man groaned lifting himself up then Will’s eyes flashed open seeing the man rubbing the back of his forehead and shake of a head. Will’s grin returned spotting the older man alive and well. Smith turned his attention toward the younger man then raised a brow. 

“What’s the mirth about, my dear boy?” 

“You chose me. Over the idea of not being in pain.” Will said. “Over the idea of not living. Over the idea of not existing.”

“Yes. . .” Smith said. “I did.”

“You listened to me. No one does that when it comes to what I want.” Will said. “No one really opens their heart to me.”

“Well then, that will have to change starting this second."

It brought a small smile from the younger man.

"So, you will stay?" Will asked.

Smith shook his hand.

"His residue is still all over this ship." Smith said. "It isn't quite itself."

"And staying inside of the ship for long periods of time would be lying to yourself about being home." Will surmised. 

"Yes." It was quite a small reply. 

"I get that. I really have let go of her. Haven't I?" Will forced a bitter smile. "Focusing on the time machine and all."

Smith nodded.

"Tell me about the last thirty years," Smith replied. "Please. Or, I will be forced to make you if you refuse." 

"You don't mean it." Will said.

"I mean it with my entire soul." Smith replied, sincerely. "I did force you to make that machine." His eyebrows briefly raised as he reminded the younger man. "It will be a long and cruel experience if you do not wish to open up."

Will looked aside thinking it over.

"Do you want that?"

Will looked toward the older man, thinking it over, thoughtfully.

"Because thirty years, young man, is a lot.”

Will sat down into the nearest chair then sighed. 

“How about I start from the beginning?” Will looked up toward the man.

“No.” The older man scoffed. “Start from the part where your family was murdered. You’ve already told me the beginning of your exile.” 

“I can’t be evasive around it.” Will asked, sheepishly. “Can I?”

Smith glared down the younger man. 

“No. You cannot.” Smith said, swiftly. “That is a matter which should be dealt on head on.”

“I don’t really know you, do I?” Will asked. 

Smith nodded, silently, then lifted his attention up toward Will. 

“That is what makes this a third chance.” Smith said. 

“It is.” Will agreed. 

“Start from the part where they died.” He took the younger man’s hand then gently added. “And take it slowly. Don’t rush yourself.”

Will cleared his throat then started the tale. 

* * *

It was dark when John, Robot, and Don returned to the Jupiter 2. The biobed was empty and the doors to two of the small cabins were closed. Don arrived to the stove then slid it down and reveal the two plates that had been prepared for them by the older Robinson. 

They took a shower after switching places with the other then took a shower and changed into their pajamas. Their pajamas were warm as they used to be and what they were providing was enough. Don retired into his cabin then fell asleep once crawling under the space developed bed sheets and was out like a light. 

John walked out of the Jupiter 2 then fell down on to a boulder feeling a pang of pain. 

“What have I done?” John asked. 

John looked toward the sky, haunted by his mistakes, but heart broken on the verge of tears. 

“I am sorry, Maureen.” John said. “I should have checked on Will. I should have.”

And John sobbed over Robot’s careful watch.

* * *

It was the next morning did Will, Robot, Smith, John, and Don go out fishing. Will looked up toward the sky listening to the sound of birds chirping happily. It was strange to see the sky so blue with perfect white clouds in the distance. He began to smile noticing the pearls of life around him. The dark plants within his eyes had regained their bright green quality and the alien black trees returned to a shade of deep brown with features of the bark that stood out. His hands trailed down the bark then looked on ahead of the men carrying the camping gear. 

Will descended down a bumbling creek then hopped down on to the water with a splash and laughed. Instead of irritation, annoyance, and disgust with the water, he felt something different that spread through his chest. It was the strangest kind that he had experienced. He hadn’t experienced it for a very, long, long time. He saw a snake then chased after it running down the creek and caught it with a loud ah ha. The snake played dead in his hands as he gently played with it sliding it from side to side then rubbed underneath the creature’s chin. 

The snake came to then lifted it’s head up and tilted it to the side as he continued the action. He slid it along his shoulder with occasional jumps on the large pools of water returning to where the creek had started. Smith’s laughter of amusement was the first sound that Will had heard upon returning with incredulous stares from John and Don. The snake was covered in a layer of dark brown fur with it’s mouth exposed similar to a platypus. Robot’s mechanical laughter joined the duo’s laugh. 

“Look how cute it is,” Will said, joining the men. 

“That is gorgeous, my dear boy.” Smith said. “Are you sure that it isn’t vicious?”

“That is a otter snake.” Robot said. “Try holding it.”

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Will’s eyes sparked as Smith warily took the snake with care and held it up as it stared back at him with a hiss and wigged the long tail from side to side. 

“That . . .” John said. “might be poisonous.”

“Can we bring it back to the Jupiter 2? Can we?” Will asked. 

“No.” John said. “Put it back. You haven’t studied it.”

“Good, I’ll do that tomorrow afternoon after my shift!” Will said, brightly then Smith handed the doll like otter snake to him. “I will put it back.”

The men shrugged then walked on ahead of Will and the older man went back the same way that he had came with the snake. Will knelt down then put the otter snake into the creek then watched it swarm on ahead of him. He dusted his hands off then wiped his hands along his pant legs with a smile.

He stood there for a few minutes watching the otter snake go further into the distance as he enjoyed the weather then let out a happy sigh looking around admiring the scenery around him for the first time in a very long time. From afar, a figure climbed along the hill then looked over him in curiosity. 

“Are you coming or not, my dear boy?” Smith asked, curiously. 

Will grinned then turned after Smith. 

“In a few moments, Doctor Smith.” Will said. 

“Okay.”

Smith walked on from the younger man vanishing among the scenery. 

“May be not too different from my old monster.” Will said. 

Will chuckled then picked up a pebble and tossed it ahead of the creek watching it go into the distance. 

Will turned away, feeling a little more upbeat, then turned away and walked on toward the direction that he had came. 

For the first time in thirty years, he felt _happy_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning, restablishing Smith and Will’s friendship between original timeline Smith and alternate older Will - Evanscence - Anywhere.


End file.
